


Cats Claws Are As Sharp As Their Tongue

by SmilingGod



Category: Batman (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Catlad, Angst, Family, Family Fluff, Freeform, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teen Romance, The Gotham Sirens, but only slightly - Freeform, hunter is here but not as zoom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-10-31 03:14:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10890531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmilingGod/pseuds/SmilingGod
Summary: Dick was taken in at age eight by Selina Kyle, hiding him away from any praying bats she raises him as her own.Two years later Batman gets a sidekick named Robin, and all the other heroes following after him and getting their own, so why not Catwoman as well?Meet Catlad, and later on stray, as they struggle to see Gotham as anything else than a playground full of prey and loot.batman is not pleased.





	1. age 9: sweet mother of mine

Dick slowly closed the window behind him as he slid into the apartment.

It was 2 am and he shouldn’t be back this late, but he was playing with Wally for so long they didn’t notice what time it was until his aunt found out they were still awake and sent them off to bed.

Dick slowly slid to the other side of the living room heading towards the corridor when suddenly the light turned on, and he jerked back to the living room to find his mother, Selina Kyle, sitting on the sofa with a black cat sprawled on her lap purring, around her were…. Five other cats… how did he miss this? How did he not notice the army of cats surrounding that area? Selina is like a bush of catnip he should be used to this by now and instead he tried to sneak by like a 4th grader trying to use the bathroom pass to escape school, without even checking inside the house for movement.

“Oh, uh hey mo-“

“Where have you been” she cut him off. “Here I was, getting ready to head out when I see that you’re not home yet!”

The cats seem to be judging him as well, getting worried that their brother could have been in danger.

“I uh…” robin tried to think what to say to save his skin.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Um 2 am?” he hoped it wasn’t a hypostatical question

“NIGHT TIME, and do you know why that’s a bad thing?”

“Because that’s when the bat comes out to play…” he said shyly.

“And do you know what would happen if he would have seen a 9-year-old child roaming the streets of Gotham on his own at 2 in the morning?”

“He would have tried and taken me to find my parents…” he looked more and more guilty. “Well he couldn’t take me today because I made sure he didn’t see me! I was extra sneaky!" He proclaimed.

“Do you think, that if the Batman had seen you, you would notice it?”

“Uh well, I uh… I guess I wouldn’t really notice him at all…”

“But I didn’t notice it was late I swear!” he said straightening his form defensively “Wally just finished moving to his uncles’ place, and I just missed him so much! And we played for so long and ate so many snacks…” Dick seemed to notice his bubbling and lowered his head in shame as he continued to try and salvage what was left from his excuse “and we just… didn’t notice it was late… until Iris came and she told us to wrap it up…” his voice was barely a whisper as he slowly swiped the floor in front of him with his foot.

Selina’s gaze softened as she moved the cat from her lap and got up to take a good look at him, he was hunched down and it made him seem so little. She adopted him when he was just eight years old and a year already had passed, but he is still as small and fragile as that terrible night at the circus. Dick was brilliant and sly, and with the addition of years of experience in gymnastics and a keen understanding of technology, he was already more than capable of surviving on his own. But even with all that she never forgot he was still a child, someone who needed her to care for him and be there when he needs her.

Selina walked towards dick, her form missing its signature sway as she made her way towards him and wrapped her arms around the short boy, barely even reaching above her hips.

She placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

“Kitty, I love you, and I want you to live the best life you can, and I'm happy you found such a good friend to hung out with, but the bat wouldn’t trust me to raise a child on my own, not with the life I’m living that is”. 

She pulled back to look at him in the eyes, his clear blue eyes stared at her lovingly. 

“plus giving you a good life means that I had needed you to be registered to have a proper education which means that I had to legally adopt you to be able to write you down as being homeschooled…”. Dick chuckled as she started to trail off “and that means that there are a chance bats could find you out and try and take you away since you are in the system. But even with all those risks, I am not a bad mother, and I do not want you to spend your whole life in this house. I am not going to start monitoring you or ground you or make new rules because of this one incident. I just want you to follow the existing regulations. I want to trust that you are capable of following those few rules that ensure you won’t have any meeting with the big ol’ bat even when I’m not around to tell you to, got it?”, she squeezed his face while dramatically looking into his eyes.

He nodded.

“Good, anything else left to say?” she softened her grip on his face.

Dick pondered for a moment.

“Batman is dumb” he finally concluded.

Selina couldn’t stop the giggle that was escaping her “he just has a slight problem of hero syndrome, he isn’t really that bad.”

“But he broke your heart” Dick regretted this remark the moment the awkward silence crept into the room, he couldn’t see her face as he was busy memorizing the floor tiles for some reason.

Selina placed her cheek on the top of his head trying to hide any sign that what he said hit too close to home.

“Hey… hey, it’s okay, you know that the doctor said the best cure is a tub of ice cream and a classic movie~”.

“Did it work?” he looked up curiously.

“Well of course! But tonight my heart was aching for a different person” she smooched him on his forehead, “and I will be delighted if that person would help me get better~ and it IS the doctors’ orders~.”

Dick gasped and placed a hand over his mouth dramatically. “But mother of mine! The time is 2 in the morning! Such a crude act of you! Where’s the kind and responsible mother I know?”

Selina placed a hurt hand over her chest as she played shocked, “RICHARD JOHN GRAYSON, when have I ever claimed to be something as awful as being a ‘responsible parent’???? I’ll have you know that my main trait as a mother is being fun! And also being caring, but way more fun!!!”

“But didn’t you plan on patrolling tonight?”

“Oh sweet kitty of mine~ these precious moment with you are worth more than any jewel I can steal” she purred.

“That means a lot coming from you ;3” he quickly answered.

“Oh! Oh my! Little kitty cat learning how to purr I see~~I can already see you in a couple of years growing to become an unstoppable force of nature” she looks proudly at him “well let’s stop with the cheesy stuff for now and start with this top notch quality mother and son time.”

She slid to the kitchen to grab the ice-cream as Dick laid on the couch, careful not to crush any cats on the way. His mom flopped down beside him and gave him a tub of chocolate fudge ice cream as she took the vanilla and cookies one and turned on the TV to find a movie they both agree on, which wasn’t hard. Dick placed his head on Selina’s lap and purred as she scratched his head.

They watched most of the movie until the night changed from movie night to trying to fend off the cats that decided to join them in their activity, specifically the one that includes the ice-cream.

At some point, they understood that it was pointless to try and dual them and decided it's time for bed anyways.

Selina carried Dick to his bedroom, which she completely redesign upon his first arrival a year ago. She took down a wall and joined the storage room next to it to make the room as big as the living room, redecorated everything from adding a stylish oak wood king sized bed with the softest mattress she could find to the half a dozen different games that included a tv screen across the bed, a computer with three screens, and all the games and consoles he wanted for them, plus other board games and toys. Selina often feared she was spoiling him, but he never seemed to disrespect her or rudely demand anything. She hoped the games help his loneliness since he was home schooled and thus didn’t meet a lot of people, but luckily his good friend was so often with him she would think they were brothers if not for their incredibly different appearances. It always warmed her heart knowing that her kitty had other cats to play with and share happiness with them too.

She placed him softly on his bed as he smiled at her.

“Goodnight my smol little kitten bean” she said in a baby voice.

“Goodnight mama meow” he answered.

“Huh, Mama Meow, I like it” they both exchanged a chuckle before she kissed him on the nose and turned off the lights at the door.

“I love you” she whispered as she slowly closed the door.

“Love you too…” Dick dozed off as Selina quietly closed the door behind her.

Putting on her Catwoman suit, she jumped into the dark streets of Gotham outside her home, a warm smile still spread across her face.

She would never have imagined having her own kid could bring so much joy into her life, but here she is smiling like an idiot even as she meets into Batman.

“What are you smiling at Cat” he growled, but Catwoman noticed that it was a sincere question of curiosity more than a threat or his usual greetings.

“Oh nothing YOU would understand Bats,” she said, trying to sound sly but failing as she smiled wider remembering her infinite beacon of happiness.

That did not help tame Batman’s curiosity.


	2. A Walk In The Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took so long.... I got stuck in all kinds of different areas in this chapter. but finally, it's done!  
> all the nice comments made me really happy, and pushed me to continue.  
> so please enjoy this extra long chapter :33

Dick threw his head back as he released a shattered moan, _“ **harder!** ”_

Wally took a step back “dude why do you always do that every time I push you on the swing.”

Dick turned around and found Wally staring at him oddly, when he understood Wally had no intention of continuing to swing him, Dick turned back with a huff “Tsk tsk tsk, oh wally! You just don’t understand high-quality adult humor! You are just too young for it.” Dick resolved to swing himself seeing as Wally lost interest in pushing him and went to sit on the swing next to him, lazily swaying back and forth.

Wally hummed as he thought about it carefully. Dick always loved how Wally would consider anything seriously, even though he knew it was just a tease “Well I guess, but what’s the point of a joke if I don’t get it? Fart jokes are funnier.” Wally concluded with a nod.

“Fart Jo- what are you, a six year old?” he chuckled.

“Six? I’m two years older than you!”

“’Oh I’m Wally I’m 11 years old, and I still think fart jokes are the epitome of humor!’” Dick said in a mocking tone. Wally frowned at him, but Dick chose to ignore him.

Dick was swinging harder now, aiming to reach the full potential of the swing. Tilting his body back, he swung himself one last time before leaping off the swing midair and landing perfectly on the ground with a grin, raising his hands in the air in a victorious posture.

Wally kept glaring at Dick with all the seriousness he could muster. ‘That couldn’t last long’ Dick thought before lowered his hands and crossed them, his smile faded to a mocking glare as the two of them had begun a stare off.

As Wally's eyebrows were busy merging, Dick slowly poked his tongue out, only to make a slow fart noise. A second passed full of restrain and willpower, but all was in vain as Wally couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of him as he fell back from the swing and hit the floor, clutching his stomach while desperately trying to regain his breath.

“You are too easy” Dick grinned, “but then again who can blame you? Anything that comes out of me is instantly a masterpiece, even something as vile as a fart joke.”

“Okay fine, I get it” Wally sat up and wiped tears of joy that formed at the side of his eye as he tried to regain his composure, “I’m wayyy too easy to impresses.” He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner and got up to clean the sand from his clothes.

Dick raised his hands defensively, “Hey you said it not me.”

Wally picked up his bag as they turned to the exit of the park.

“I asked my mom to clear the house for us just for tonight so you won’t feel so awkward, so don’t worry about making too much noise, or needing to act politely to impress her.” Dick said, taking note of how relieved Wally looked when he said so.

“Dude, I know my mom is cool and she deserves the best, but she isn’t the president, you won’t be tackled down by FBI agents if you accidentally try to shake her hand without permission” he snickered.

“I-I know that!” Wally stuttered, “I only talked with her like, two times! This is hella awkward for me; it will be awkward for anyone in this kind of situation!”

 Wally suddenly recalled the first time Dick came to visit him at his aunt and uncles house, how he wasn’t afraid to ask for food when he wanted to, how he confidently chatted with both of them, and how when Wally came back from the restroom, he found the three of them all looking at Wally’s childhood photos, Barry tearing up as he smiled at the photos and Iris at Dick who wasn’t ashamed to openly laugh out loud at some of them as he pointed to the ones he wanted a copy of.

“On second thought… maybe not EVERYone…”

They continued to walk down the street, Wally was talking about how he planned on learning Romanian for Dick so they can talk freely without anyone understanding them, and Dick agreed excitingly, he was rusty on his own so they could learn together. Dick commented here and there on the small shops and terrible sign designs some had. They passed shops and roads before halting at an intersection.

Dick looked around “uhh, alright sooo” he rubbed his chin as he hummed.

“Are we lost?” Wally asked nervously. He checked his small watch to find that it is already 11 pm, at this point he would already be fast asleep, but knowing he would spend the night at Dicks house he came prepared by sleeping the entire noon.

Suddenly aware of their surroundings, he looked around the street, at the crumbling buildings and dark shadows covering every corner, he could have sworn that one of them even moved.

“No, no, don’t worry,” he looked at Wally. “Jeez will you calm down? You look like a mouse in a trap.” Seeing as he didn’t get an answer from the ginger, he pushed him to grab his attention. “As I was saying,” he said louder seeing as the other boy still wasn’t looking at him, eyes darting from place to place as he shifted around nervously.

Dick pointed forward. “We can continue to go straight home, orrr,” he threw a quick glance at Wally, seeing as he was now paying some kind of attention to him he continued, “we can go to the convince store down the street,” he gestured to his left, “and buy some snacks and food. We could cook something back home but we need ingredients for that.”

This caught Wally’s full attention as he looked back towards him.

“The only problem is that it will mean more walking.” Dick added quickly.

“Well I don’t have a problem with that,” Wally said.

“Of course you don’t,” Dick said, before adding a sly “kid flash~~”

“Ptt what’s that supposed to mean!?” Wally snorted, mentally writing down that amazing, kickass name.

“Well you constantly have Flash’s merchandise on you almost daily, and you probably can outrun a small shepherd dog, so I’ll say… you’re practically a smaller version of him!” he exclaimed.

This seemed to excite Wally, well why wouldn’t it? Flash was his idol, any comparisons between them would make him happy. Dick was glad that it calmed down Wally, so he continued: “Walking itself isn’t the problem. “ He demonstrated it by gracefully straightening his leg to the side, even though it was Gotham and Gotham was known for being freezing, Dick was wearing shorts, so Wally could see his well-toned legs.

Wally knew Dick came originally from the circus and played big roles there from the moment he was born, but that didn’t stop Wally from feeling jealous that a nine-year-old looked more like a superhero than he did. “Show off.” he said mockingly, but couldn’t hide the small grin that surfaced on his face.

Dick chuckled while moving back his leg. “The problem is that walking and shopping takes time, and I- I mean we, don’t want to be outside this late of an hour. You know the weirdos that can appear at this time.” recalling the bat made Dick glance around while shifting from side to side.

Wally always agreed with Dick whenever he talked about his distaste for the Batman, but after being revealed Flash’s identity to be his uncle, he was introduced to the Batman and found out that he isn’t as mean as Dick writes him to be. He is scary, that he agreed on, but it all came with good intentions.

“I’m not too worried about the creep,” Wally said, using an insult to reassure Dick. “We're just a couple of kids strolling around! And I almost count as a teen, and a teen being outside at this hour is totally normal!” he beamed at the younger boy.

“Huh, I guess I shouldn’t really worry about being handpicked for an interrogation while so many criminals are running around to be picked instead,” Dick said.

“So what do you say about the food?” Dick added, now back to his usual self.

Wally’s smile changed to a thoughtful frown as he turned his backpack to check the smallest pocket, after some rustling, he sighed. “Well, I only have like ten dollars so we need to be resourceful.”

“Oh don’t worry, I got my allowance two days ago so I’ll pay-” Dick was cut short when Wally grabbed his wrist and started dragging him towards the store. “Why didn’t you say so earlier bro?? Come on were wasting precious time!” Dick caught his footing and joined Wally as he joyfully marched down the street.

 

 

Selina wrapped her whip on a loose pipe and flung herself to the next building, rolling on top before continuing to sprint.

She usually doesn’t hang out for so long in the proximity of her house since it could draw the Bats attention to this place, but it was already midnight and she needed to make sure her kitten is safe at home. Selina already circled the city couple of times looking for anything to do, so running around on the outskirts of town would probably not be as suspicious as if she would have spent the entire night here. She promised Dick she won’t interfere while Wally was visiting, and she would never go back on a promise. So instead she swung herself from rooftop to another, careful to not seem like she’s looking specifically at her house, while looking for signs for them.

She already had a way of knowing if Dick was inside or not, the windows of her apartment were boarded with black planks so it will look like the light is never on, so she couldn’t rely on that. However, Selina’s best allies weren’t wooden planks, (they were taken by a different woman). No, her best allies were her cats, and right now it was a brown one named Charlie.

Charlie was a street cat, but he adored Dick, and would only enter the house if Dick was there. Every time dick entered the house he would let Charlie in, and if he wasn’t around Dick would call for him and wait patiently until he came and together they entered the house.

Selina jumped to the next house, gripping at the borders of a window with her claws, as she pushed herself up she grabbed at the edge of the building and climbed to the roof. This building sat right in front of her house, and had a clear view of the alleyways beside it. She glanced to the sides and scanned the area.

And right there, playing with an empty bottle of water, was Charlie. Well damn.

Selina turned around and sat on the roof, leaning her back on the short wall.

Stopping now made her realize how out of breath she was. She had done two and a half circles around the place without stopping once, her heart pounding hard as she regained her breath; she reached down and massaged her throbbing legs as she pulled out her phone from her belt pocket. Dick ‘calmly informed’ her that putting a radioactive machine in an inner pocket next to her chest was probably not such a good idea. She couldn’t agree more.

She unlocked her phone and sent a message.

Mama Meow: Hey boo~~~ just wanted to know where are you right now? It’s already midnight… are you okay?

Selina stretched her aching back as a crack came out of her neck. Ouch. Okay, maybe she should have taken this evening as an opportunity to treat herself for a spa or something along the lines. No matter how elegant she made it look, fighting assholes and moving around so much wasn’t that easy.

Her phone vibrated.

Prince Kitten: Hi Mommy!

Prince Kitten: no don’t worry about me I’m with Wally at the store

Selina relaxed at that. Wally may be weaker that Dick is, but he’s older and has more sense to him. He won’t let Dick get in trouble.

Prince Kitten: we came here at like

 

Prince Kitten: uhh… what, 11 and a half??? Idk

 

Prince Kitten: okay nvm Wally said it was 11 >_>

 

Prince Kitten: we came here to buy some snacks but we changed our minds and started to look up recipes online to see what we want and can afford

Mama Meow: Wow taking the mature way of shopping I see!

 

Prince Kitten: lol

 

Prince Kitten: we changed our minds like 5 times, Wally is going crazy with the chocolate flavored cakes but I’m feeling more fruity so idk :p

Selina chuckled at that.

Prince Kitten: we decided finally to make a couple of recipes but now Wally pulled out a calculator on his phone and started to count what we can afford.

 

Prince Kitten: dude needs a calculator to check what’s 5.20$ plus 1.80$ is, what a neRDDD

Mama Meow: well I’m glad to hear you’re alright, when will you come home?

Prince Kitten: well we on our way to check out and it’s like 5 min walking distance from home, so I'm guessing about like 8 min

Mama Meow: Alrighty then, I think I'll head to the spa or something, my legs are killing me! *goodbye smooch*

Prince Kitten: are you actually smooching the screen?

Mama Meow: of course! And you better make sure to receive it! >:3

Prince Kitten: don’t worry ill put my cheek to the screen! Make sure to kiss when I say so.

Prince Kitten: 3

Prince Kitten: 2

Prince Kitten: 1!!!

Selina pressed her lips to the screen, glad to not be wearing any lipstick that would otherwise smear on her phone. She looked back at it when it buzzed once more.

Prince Kitten: Oh no!!! my phone is overheating!!! Your kiss was too much for it to handle!!! ;3

Mama Meow: Oh shush you, you’re making me blush! Bye now kitten!

Prince Kitten: byeee

Selina closed her phone and clutched it to her heart, eyes fluttering shut as Dick never failed to make her smile. Her entire day could be brightened just by him.

Opening her eyes she noticed a dark shadow in the corner of her vision, she choked on her breath as she scrambled up on her feet, facing the darker figure.

“How long have you been standing there?” she demanded sharply, biting her lip as she cursed herself, not only did Bruce catch her chilling in this street, right in front of her home, there’s also the chance that he saw her while she was messaging Dick. No matter the long history they shared, Selina did not want him to know her as anyone else than Catwoman, and by letting her guard down he might have just seen a more humane and casual version that she never let on. She already moved on, she didn’t need him knowing anything else about her.

After a moment that felt like a century, he finally spoke. “Haven’t seen you around in two weeks,” She didn’t say anything, signaling that he needs to continue. “I see you moved on.” Catwoman tensed at that, his words echo in her head as he understood that he saw her texting with a big smile plastered on her face, or even when she kissed the screen. Batman was confident with his detective skills and trusted his conclusions. But there was almost no time for him to conclude anything for certain, meaning that he went with a fact that was pretty loose, but had some ground; that she had someone that made her happy.

 

That could mean anyone, from family to a child or to a lover, if she let his lousy imagination run wild he could start assuming that she had a child, it was a small chance but she couldn’t let him put that option up on the board.

She couldn’t say that it was just a new cat or an old friend. It would sound too forced and fake. She had to act quickly. Changing her stance to flirty or sly would be too sudden for her current visibly anxious stance. But she could ride that wave, showing vulnerability could have made Batman think he got her in the palm of his hands and she is too stressed to lie well.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She bit her lip ‘anxiously’. “Besides, even if I did why should you care?” she added quickly while fidgeted with her pocket, making it seem like she is too nervous to properly open it, before sliding in her phone and quickly closing it back up.

 “Not that I did I just…wait no, I did move on I just didn’t need someone else to do it!” she crossed her arms to create a defensive stance. Batman’s masks shifted as he looked at her skeptically, good. She got him doubting, now all she needs to do is change the truth to something else that is similar, while still jabbing at his emotions.

“Look…” she exhaled slowly. “We… or whatever we had between us… could have never worked out, you made that perfectly clear. I had no other option than to move on” she looked up at the dark outline. Getting no response could mean that he thinks they are having a moment, and therefore wouldn’t want to say anything out of line. It also could have meant lots of other things, no option could be too strange for Batman to pull off, and at this point, it’s all pure guesses.

“I have found someone else, it’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want you snooping around, I know how you think you should know everything, but this has nothing to do with you anymore and you have no right to delve deeper into it.” Hitting Batman’s thought of self-righteousness? check.

“All you need to know,” she looked shyly at the ground, thinking about her kitten, how he would always make her happy, of his little grin and playful tone. A genuine smile spread across her face, “is that he makes me happy,” she looked up at Batman with curious eyes, a bit hidden behind her goggles, but enough for him to get the point “don’t you want me to be happy?” hitting Batman’s over sympathy and kindness? Check.

Batman seemed to feel uneasy about the situation, and seemed like he was about to say something, but Selina quickly jumped in.

 “Okay listen, now that we got the ‘emotional talk’ out of the way,”

 she emphasized her annoyance with the subject by making air quotes

“let’s go back to the actually pressing matter.” her tone changing as she stood strong. “Why are you here?”

Batman form seemed to relax, not that Selina could have noticed since there’s basically no difference between a relaxed and an anxious Batman. Emotional talk wasn’t his strong suit, so moving the conversation to an interrogation of suspicious activity let him a chance to collect himself before pushing any leftover remains of emotion he accidentally allowed himself to let out back to the depths of hell from which they came off.

“I came here to ask you the same thing. You were running around this place for almost a full hour, with no signs of a clear direction.” He inspected her from afar, trying to find any sign of stolen loot. But the bag she used to stash in stolen goods was tucked away neatly in her pocket, and as he saw earlier her other pocket kept her phone safe.

“Is this a typical behavior of yours that I hadn’t been informed of previously?” A clear remark about the earlier exchange without bringing it up straight forward. Sneaky, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Selina.

“Well if you must know, I was just done moving my previous loot to a safer place when suddenly-!” Selina pouted, sniffing as an imaginary tear strolled down her cheek, before quickly swiping it off.

“I see that one of my precious belonging has been misplaced!” she gasped, Batman was getting tired of this little show, but if it meant getting some kind of information, he would let her finish.

“Now I have deducted that this is most likely the area where I lost it. of course I could have let it go and give up on the search,” she nodded as if agreeing with a statement that was made by someone else, “but I would lie if I said that I could contain my desperate need for the feel of soothing cold gems and rich metal under my touch.” She stepped closer, eyes glowing sharp with passion as she got a hold of her zipper and slowly slid it down.

“And as you can probably tell from my previous actions, my search did not end up a disappointment,” pushing her hand in an inner pocket, she pulled out a sparkling silver neckless, with small rubies along the chain and a large aqua green crystal that complimented the silver well. Selina always made sure to have on her at least two different pieces of jewelry that she acquired recently, it could be used as a bribe or a distraction, or in this case, to aid a lie.

“Priceless isn’t it?” she purred as she lifted the neckless up, making the gems glister with the moonlight, and inspecting it up and down.

This could be a fake, or an extremely old jewel that had no meaning to restore to the original owner anymore, but Batman recognized the neckless. Three weeks ago there was a traveling gallery that had opened up to the public next to a Wayne tower that he kept an eye for. It belonged to a Swiss artist who intended to sell the entire gallery to one person only, it was a strange business choice, and he was almost certain the placement of the gallery was intended towards him, but in the end he managed to find someone else who was interested. The gallery was showcasing handmade jewelry, all made with real gems and expensive metals.

Batman frowned as he tried to recall the details.

The gallery was planned to be open for two weeks. In those two weeks there were no complaints of theft. After the first week came the buyer and inspected all the jewels and found none fake. 

Four days later they were inspected again, and were immediately started to be boxed and planned to be shipped to the buyer at the end of the second week. Until that point no fraud has been found, meaning the only time a theft could have occurred is at the last three days, when the buyer made sure to place lots of guards on the site, but when no one was inspecting the jewels. A perfect opportunity for someone who isn’t bothered by guards, and would be happy to take something that will go easily under the radar.

Catwoman noticed how Batman changed his stance, took him some time to recall this beautiful gem.

“Hand it to me” he growled, taking a step closer.

She had successfully deceived him from looking into her new found happiness, and into thinking this street and place had anything to do with her personally. But now that she pulled out the jewelry, she had nowhere else to lead the conversation. She was so busy thinking of how to manipulate him away from the current problem, that she accidentally created a different one.

Well trying to talk it out certainly didn’t work as well as planned.

Selina twirled the neckless carelessly around her finger as she closed her front zipper.

Batman’s gaze was fixed on the jewel, which was now flying from the rooftop towards the street below. The split second of Batman’s shock towards Selina’s actions when she threw the neckless from the roof was enough for her to act. She swiftly jumped forward, placing her hands on the short wall in a handstand and fell back after the jewel, catching it quickly and wrapping it around her hand, she pulled out her whip from its holster and flung it at a street lamp, successfully swinging her to the other side of the street and on top of the next building.

Batman quickly snapped from his stunned state before jumping after her, launching his grappling hook at the same building and flinging himself high. Under him, Catwoman was seen turning right, before running from one building to the next towards the harbor.

Batman dove at her, planning to pin her down, but she swiftly dropped between two buildings, crashing into one of the side windows and entering the abandoned house. Batman turned around and leaped after her, entering the same apartment.

He scanned the dark apartment, looking for any sign of movement. He marched in deeper, careful to not make any noise.

Hearing a crash, he rushed forward, entering a small kitchen he found a broken vase was laying on the floor next to an open window. He looked out of it and spotted Catwoman climbing back on top of the roof.

He quickly climbed after her, dashing as she jumped to the next street.

Going to the harbor could end badly for Selina, it’s a dead end and there are a lot of props that can create a strong echo, even the smallest mistake could create such a powerful noise that would make Black Canary jealous.

And so Selina changed her plan, and instead rushed towards the river that led to the harbor.

Batman was already starting to catch up, Selina already was tired from her previous running and so the only way she could create a gap between them was to try and trick him, but she was careless and now he was catching on.

Last building.  She leaped off, throwing her whip at a street lamp in front of her. Swinging herself to the middle of the river, she threw her whip again at the other side and swung forward before noticing a boat passing underneath her.

Batman prepared to glide after her, seeing he was close and gaining on her quickly.  But he stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed Catwoman throwing the neckless at the passing boat.

He calculated his options, and quickly changed his route towards the boat.

As much as he would prefer to bring the thief to justice with the stolen good, retrieving the neckless back to its original owner was much more important.

He jumped from parked boat to another, before leaping to the back of the small boat, shaking it viciously, much to the surprise of the man on board.

He quickly grabbed the jewel before jumping off the speeding boat to the dock. He looked down at the neckless, only to find a plastic one, similar to ones you get by buying a semi-realistic baby doll, but it certainly doesn’t get close looking like the one Selina had. Which means she still had the original one.

The poor plastic neckless didn’t stand a chance as the dark cold glove crushed it viciously. Batman looked around frantically, climbing on top of the buildings as he ran around searching for the cat, but the hunt ended fruitless.

Grinding his teeth he turned around and headed back to the cave, maybe if he had a small break he will clear his head enough to continue his patrol well-adjusted. Getting tricked rarely leaves a person giddy.

As he started marching back he heard a small yelp and a cry. He turned and run towards the noise.

 

 

“Wally come on! It’s not that bad?” Dick looked down at the sobbing ginger as he was sprawled on the floor. They were walking towards the house, chatting casually when suddenly two of the grocery bags Wally carried broke open and released their content on the floor. Most of it was unharmed, a bit dusty but it was packaged so it didn’t damage the products themselves.

But apparently, it was a reason enough for Wally to have a break down in the middle of the street.

Wally was crying hard now, tears streaming down as he tried to say something, only to be brought to an abrupt end by a series of hiccups.

“Here we can fix this.” Dick kneeled down, picking the groceries up and distributing them evenly between the bags that were intact.

Wally seemed to calm down a bit, but was still sniffling. He started to help Dick out, picking the bags up as he stood. This time carrying the bags in his arms for safer keeping.

“See? Nothing to worry about!” Dick wiped his tears away as well as he could, seeing as Wally’s hands were occupied.

Wally’s expression shifted, and Dick stopped as he felt the temperature fall and a spine-chilling breeze passed by. He turned around slowly, looking up at the menacing figure standing behind him.

Fuck.

He backed away a couple of steps, standing right beside Wally, whose hiccups were now returning.

“What happened here?” he said.

Fuck.

Wally bit his lip as he glanced at Dick, he was stiff and didn’t let any emotions slip out as he stared at the Batman with a plain face, but his fists were clutching hard at the grocery bags out of terror.

After a couple of silent seconds without an answer, he tried again. “I heard a loud scream from here.”

 Dick didn’t look like he was in a position to answer him so Wally tried to take charge.

“Uh oh! W-we…” it was still hard to speak just after crying so hard, he was holding back hiccups but knew that his face showed signs of crying previously. “We were headed back from the store a-and two bags ripped.” He kicked weakly at the bags at the ground, hoping that if the Bat wasn’t as passionate towards arresting litterers as he was of arresting criminals.

Batman seemed skeptical of that, “you saying you screamed just because of some bags?” that made Dick fume, it was obvious Batman knew nothing about Wally, or children in general, to know the basic fact that for some; a small inconvenience like that could seem like a complete catastrophe. And to assume that it wasn’t, just because he didn’t view it as such, was unacceptable.

So he stepped in, with his sweet smile and bright blue eyes.

“Well yes, it was extremely frustrating.” He pouted, but he didn’t try to hide the small amount of sarcasm that hid behind it.

His smile returned as he continued, “But we managed to overcome this horrid obstacle, so now there’s no problem.” He stood tall as he looked at Batman proudly, not a speck of doubt or fear in his words.

Batman didn’t answer, scanning both of them with masked eyes. Wally tried to look confident, but his tight-lipped smile and hunched posture gave his anxious state away. Batman recognized him as Barry’s nephew, Barry already introduced them so Wally knew Batman as well. It was strange seeing someone from the Flash family having friends from Gotham or choosing it as a hanging spot. 

They didn’t seem like they were doing anything out of the ordinary. Even so, he wanted to make sure they weren’t doing anything risky.

“And you’re sure you are not planning on causing any trouble?” He asked, which seemed to personally offend the shorter boy, noticeable by the way he placed his hand on his chest and gasped loudly.

Wally quietly groaned, wondering how much will Dick try and push his luck with these disrespectful actions.

“We would **NEVER**!” He exclaimed. Switching his posture from defensive to calm and with a sweet smile, he looked up at Batman with piercing eyes, the kind that would be hard to ever forget, and said “We are just a couple of Robins walking down the streets with the gentle night breeze as our guard.” his words pecking gently at Batman’s heart-strings. “Have you ever heard of a Robin doing anything wrong?” a rhetoric question of course, but Batman nodded.

“Of course, continue on your way.” He moved aside, letting them pass by.

Batman looked down at his watch. He didn’t have time for a small break anymore, (even though that conversation was enough to calm him down) but a nice cup of tea couldn’t have hurt.

He turned and headed back to the city.

 

* * *

Batman would later that night come back to the cave, he would tell his new…son what he had done that night, he would leave out the encounter with Selina, and he would tell about the two peculiar boys who had named themselves robins, and Jason would like that name, and he would later adopt it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot itself is still a work in progress, so feel free to comment suggestions or ideas you want to see!
> 
> kudos/ comments are appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write about catlad au for so long but never got a clear plot formed, so I'm trying to just write what I want to happen and not worry too much and see where that gets me. 
> 
> hope you'll enjoy it!


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